"Hama eating electricity." AI era... "Old age transmission network." Oh no.

[Anchor]
Ahead of the era of AI, which is called the 'electric eating hippo', the United States and Japan are making large-scale investments in transmission and distribution network facilities.

However, the transmission and distribution construction project is sluggish in Korea.

There are concerns that it could adversely affect major industries as well.

Reporter Park Ki-wan reports.

[Reporter]
On the 3rd, the United States announced a project plan to replace the transmission and distribution network worth 1.5 billion dollars and 2 trillion won in our money.

It is part of a power infrastructure construction project that will take place across the United States ahead of the AI era.

It's not just about the United States.

Global power grid investment is expected to more than double from 320 trillion won in 2020 to 2050.

It's because of artificial intelligence and AI that speed up like this.

Artificial intelligence data centers require six times more power than general data centers, and the spread of AI is expected to significantly increase power demand.

[Mark Zuckerberg / Meta CEO (Source: YouTube Dwarkesh Patel): (AI) will run into power shortages. Eventually, power can slow AI development.]

How is the situation in our country?

A total of 307 domestic transmission and substation facility construction projects are planned by 2037.

Each construction takes an average of 13 years, and 85% of them have not even been shoveled yet.

This is because KEPCO, which is suffering from large-scale debt, has faced opposition because it has not been able to persuade local residents properly, and it is difficult to cover business expenses.

[Rep. Joo Ho-young / People's Power]: The amount of electricity that needs to be expanded is equivalent to 1,700 circuit kilometers, which is more than five times the scale that we have been expanding over the past decade.]

[Kim Dong-cheol / President of Korea Electric Power Corporation: It was proposed in the regular session of the National Assembly because lawmakers also cooperated with the special law on the grid to be led by the state..]

In the meantime, the limitations of the current transmission and distribution facilities have been revealed, with the power plant failing to use its capabilities and continuing losses in the transmission process.

It is unclear whether we will be able to supply power on time to the Yongin semiconductor cluster, which will be the heart of our semiconductor industry in the future.

[Lee Chang-yang / Former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy (last 14th): I think there is a big difference between the level of awareness of the government and the industry and that of the politics.]

It is time for the government to take prompt measures in line with the status of advanced IT countries in the AI era.

I'm Park Kiwan of YTN.

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video: Eunkyung Lee
Design: Kim Hyo-jin